Method and circuitry for processing data

ABSTRACT

The invention provides circuitry for processing and routing data and comprises an input configured to receive data, one or more summing units configured to sum at least some of the data and a plurality of outputs configured to output the summed data. The one or more summing units are configured to route the summed data to one or more of the outputs.

This is a Continuation of International Application No. PCT/IB02/02515filed May 3, 2002, which designated the U.S. and was published under PCTArticle 21(2) in English.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and circuitry for processingdata and in particular, but not exclusively to the processing of datapackets in a base transceiver station of a wireless telecommunicationssystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wireless cellular networks are known. The area covered by the network isdivided up into cells. Each cell is created by a base transceiverstation BTS which is arranged to communicate with mobile devices suchas, for example, mobile telephones, located in the cells

A number of different standards are known which govern the communicationbetween mobile stations and base stations as well as with other networkelements. One example of a currently known standard is the GSM standard(global system for mobile communication). This is a so-called secondgeneration standard. At the present time, work is being carried out onthe so-called third generation standard. In general, these thirdgeneration standards use code division multiple access CDMA in the radiointerface between mobile stations and base transceiver stations. One ofthe current proposals for a third generation standard suggest using wideband CDMA (WCDMA) in the communication. With CDMA, a stream of bits ordata has a spreading code applied thereto. The spreading codesdistinguish the data intended for different mobile stations in the samecell and accordingly, the same frequency can be used at the same time totransmit the data to the mobile stations. Likewise, a number of mobilestations can transmit to the base station at the same time, in the samefrequency band with the data being distinguished by different spreadingcodes. A single WCDMA BTS may support (create) one or several cells. AWCDMA cell is can be defined as a frequency and a given geographic areawhere the P-CCPCH (Primary-Common Control Physical Channel) can bereceived by a mobile station or the like.

There exist baseband and radio frequency RF processing units in a basetransceiver station. Baseband processing units receive (bit) messagesfrom a core network and prepare them for transmission via an airinterface for example by performing channel encoding and spreadingfunctionality. In some cases, modulation and upconversion, typically toan intermediate frequency, may be done at the baseband part of the basetransceiver station. RF processing units convert the baseband signal upto the final radio frequency (which is around 2 GHz). Additionally,processing units that transfer data between the baseband and RFprocessing units may be needed. The data is passed between nodes in thebase station in packet form.

The packet has a header part and a payload part. The header part willtypically contain information such as address information, time stampinformation and information identifying the type of data contained inthe payload. The payload simply contains the message or data intendedfor the mobile station or base station.

The base station also provides a routing function and directs packets tothe appropriate modulator for modulation, upconversion and transmissionIt should be appreciated that a base station will transmit on a numberof different frequencies at the same time. Accordingly, differentmodulators may be provided for the different frequencies.

The base station can be regarded as being made up of a number of busnodes. A received base band packet will pass through several of thenodes in order to be up converted to the radio frequency. The nodes maybe provided by ASICs (application specific integrated circuits) or thelike. It should be appreciated that one ASIC may provide more than onenode.

It has been appreciated by the inventors that providing routing betweenthe nodes and sufficient capacity on that routing for the variousdifferent packets requires a large resource. This is undesirable in thatthis increases the complexity of the base station as well as its size.In other words, a large amount of band width is required for datatransfer from baseband to RF, and vice versa.

Another potential problem with base stations relates to latency. Inparticular, for CDMA or wide band CDMA, it is important to minimise thelatency of the data packets passing through the base transceiverstation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aim of embodiments of the present invention to address or atleast mitigate at least one of the problems discussed previously.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is providedcircuitry for processing and routing data comprising:

-   -   input means for receiving data;    -   means for summing at least some of said data;    -   a plurality of outputs for outputting said summed data, said        summing means arranged to route said summed data to one or more        of said outputs.

Preferably, said data includes address information.

Preferably, said data comprises packet data. The packet data maycomprise a header and a payload. Preferably, the header comprises atleast one of the following fields: address information, informationidentifying the type of data in the payload; and a time stamp.

Preferably, the means for summing is arranged to sum the payloads of aplurality of packets. The summing means are arranged to sum togetherdata of packets with the same header or different headers. The summingof data may be based on external rules.

The summing means may be arranged to sum data of packets with differentaddresses, different types of data and/or different time stamps.

A at least one of said outputs may output a packet comprising the summeddata and the said same header.

Preferably, means are provided for extracting the address informationfrom said data. The extracting means may be arranged to start extractingthe address information before all of a packet is received.

Preferably said payload is summed at the same time or after the headerhas been output by at least one of said outputs.

Preferably, said input means comprises a plurality of inputs and saidsumming means is arranged to take into account the identity of the inputmeans when summing the data.

Preferably, means are provided for identifying one or more of saidoutputs of said circuitry.

Preferably, said identifying means comprises a look up table.

Preferably, separate summing means are provided for each output.

Preferably, wherein the data to be summed is directed to the summingmeans associated with the identified output.

Preferably, said summing means is provided with a plurality of adderstages.

Preferably, said data comprises spread spectrum data.

Preferably, the data which is summed together is such that the differentdata of the summed data can be distinguished from each other.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is providedcircuitry for processing data comprising:

-   -   input means for receiving data, said data including address        information;    -   comparing means for comparing address information of different        data:    -   means for summing at least some of said data in dependence on        said comparison;    -   output means for outputting said summed data.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided circuitryfor processing and routing data comprising:

-   -   input means for receiving data,    -   means for summing at least some of said data;    -   output means for outputting said summed data, wherein at least        some data is summed as at least some data is output.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is providedcircuitry for processing and routing data comprising:

-   -   input means for receiving data;    -   means for summing at least some of said data;    -   output means for outputting said summed data wherein said        circuitry is arranged to process and route data substantially        simultaneously.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a methodfor processing and routing data comprising the steps of:

-   -   receiving data;    -   summing at least some of said data;    -   routing said summed data to at least one of a plurality of        outputs.

In embodiments of the present invention a message based bus protocol maybe used for data transmission between baseband and RF units within thebase transceiver station. In each message, data of single or severalmobile stations or the like are transferred between baseband and RFunits depending on the air interface standard that is supported. In thecase of W-CDMA, a message may contain data of several users. It is alsopossible that GSM messages may also contain data of several users. Thecontent of each packet may reflect the format which is used in the airinterface between BTS and mobile station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention and as to how thesame may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way ofexample only to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a cellular telecommunications system inwhich embodiments of the present invention may be incorporated;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of a base transceiver station in whichembodiments of the present invention can be incorporated;

FIG. 3 illustrates the principle of embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows part of the embodiment of FIG. 4 in more detail; and

FIG. 6 shows the summing unit 44 of FIG. 4 in more detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows schematically a cellulartelecommunication system in which embodiments of the present inventioncan be incorporated. The area covered by the network 2 is divided into aplurality of cells 4. Each cell is created by a base transceiver station6 which is arranged to communicate with user equipment 8 by a radiointerface. The user equipment can take any suitable form and may befixed or mobile equipment. The user equipment may for example be amobile station, mobile terminal, mobile telephone, computer, personalcomputer (PC), portable computer such as a laptop computer; a personaldigital assistant (PDA) or the like.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in the context ofa system which uses CDMA. Embodiments of the present invention may beused with any suitable type of CDMA such as wide band CDMA (W-CDMA),CDMA using frequency division duplexing FDD or time division duplexingTDD. The frequency division duplexing and/or the time division duplexingmay be used in conjunction with wide band CDMA. Embodiments of thepresent invention are particularly applicable to spread spectrumtechniques which use spreading codes.

Reference is made to FIG. 2 which schematically shows a base transceiverstation 6 in which embodiments of the present invention can beincorporated. The base transceiver station 6 has input ports 10 arrangedto receive inputs from other elements of the network. In particular, theports 10 are arranged to receive inputs from core network (CN) elements,possibly through other processing blocks of the base station, such as amobile switching services controller (MSC) or a signalling GPRS (generalpacket radio service) support node (SGSN) or the like.

The input data is in the form of packet data as specified in therespective air interface standard. A baseband node receives the packets,does processing such as channel encoding, spreading and upconversion,and packs the data to the packet format discussed hereinafter fortransmission to RF nodes. The structure of the data packets used in thebase station will be discussed hereinafter. These packets contain dataor the like intended for various mobile stations served by the basetransceiver station. These base band data need to be processed toprovide output data at the required radio frequency with the requiredmodulation.

The base station can be regarded as being made up of a number of nodes12. These nodes are connected together either using point to pointconnections or by using a bus arrangement. The arrangement shown in FIG.2 shows point to point connections for illustrative purposes but inpractice a suitable bus arrangement would be provided. The data receivedfrom the input ports 10 are passed through various nodes of the basestation 6, in packet form, and are up converted in for example amodulator at the RF part of the base station. As will be described inmore detail hereinafter embodiments of the present invention arearranged to combine various of the packets sent between the base band anradio frequency parts of the base station well before or just beforethey are transmitted by the antennas 14 to the mobile station. Inpreferred embodiments of the present invention, packet combining takesplace in as many nodes as possible, which may be all nodes. This givesthe advantage that the bandwidth over each link is reduced.

The nodes 12 may each be provided by an ASIC. Alternatively oradditionally, two or more nodes may be contained in one ASIC. Nodes maybe provides by elements other than ASICs.

Reference is made to FIG. 3 which schematically illustrates theprinciple embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows three inputpackets 16 a, 16 b and 16 c. Each packet comprises a header 18 and apayload 20. The header has the following information: addressinformation; time stamp information; and type information whichindicates the type of information contained in the payload. The payload20 is data. It should be appreciated that the header may omit the timestamp information and/or the type information, depending on theembodiment of the invention. The header may alternatively oradditionally include further information.

In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the addressinformation can be regarded as identifying the frequency and antenna towhich the data is to be transmitted. Alternatively, the addressinformation can be regarded as identifying the modulator part of thebase transceiver station (that is one of the nodes shown in FIG. 2)which modulates the packet and then transmits it. In embodiments of thepresent invention, a data packet which is intended for mobile station Awill have the same address as the data packet intended for mobilestation B if they are to receive the packets from the same base stationon the same frequency and from the same antenna. The time stampinformation indicates the time of the packet. Successive packets for thesame mobile station will have different time stamps.

The type information indicates the type of data carried in the payload20. For example, this information will indicates if the data is CDMAdata and, if so, what type. For example, the data could be W-CDMA/FDDdata. W-CDMA/TDD or some other type of CDMA data Alternatively, the datamay be GSM data or any other type of data.

In embodiments of the present invention, the headers of the packets arecompared. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the headers of three packetsare compared. However, it should be appreciated that this technique canbe used with as few as two packets or many more packets. The comparisonstep checks if the headers are the same, that is if they have the sameaddress information, the same time stamp information and the same typeinformation. If the headers are the same and external information, whichhas been beforehand provided for a bus multiplexer (discussed in moredetail hereinafter), allows this type of data to be summed together,then the payloads of the packets are summed together. The summedpayloads provide a payload 24 of a new packet 20. The header from one ofthe packets 16 a to 16 c is copied and provides the header 22 of the newpacket 20. In the summing step, the bits of the payload of the firstpacket 16 a are summed with the bits of the second packet 16 b and thebits of the payload of the third packet 16 c. In this way, aconsiderable compression of data is achieved in that the number ofpackets is reduced, in the example shown in FIG. 3, from 3 to 1. In moredetail, there are one or several samples (complex numbers) in thepayload of each message. Samples from each message (16 a-16 c), whichcorrespond to the same time instant, are summed together.

CDMA uses spreading codes to distinguish data intended for differentusers. This means the data intended for different users can be sent atthe same time on the same frequency but the receivers, that is, forexample, the mobile stations are able to distinguish the data becausedifferent spreading codes are used. With the known base stations, thepackets intended for the different users are transmitted by the antennasas the same time. Effectively, a summing is achieved just beforemodulation/upconversion. This contrasts with embodiments of the presentinvention, where the packets are summed before they are transmitted inevery node of the base station or at least in as many nodes as possible.Thus, embodiments of the present invention combine together the CDMApayload data in each node.

In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the payloads of thepackets are summed together only when the headers are identical. Thismeans that the header of the combined packet is a copy of the commonheaders of the packets. This makes the determination of the headers verysimple. However, more complicated possibilities exist. For example, thepayloads may be summed together even where the headers are notidentical. For example, in some embodiments of the present invention,the time stamp need not be the same. Whilst it is preferred that packetsbe combined which are to be transmitted at the same time, someembodiments of the present invention may have a tolerance built in. Thistolerance will permit packets having similar time stamps, withpredefined bounds to be summed. In alternative embodiments of thepresent invention, time stamps may be quite different where the packetsare combined. The type of data may not be identical in alternativeembodiments of the present invention. For example, the data may be twodifferent types of CDMA data. Generally, the data will need to be of atype which can be distinguished from the data with which it is combinedby for example the use of a spreading code or the like.

The address data will usually need to be identical However, this willdepend on the particular embodiment of the present invention and whatthe address data represents. It may for example be possible to combinedata where part of the address data matches. For example, a portion ofthe address may be different indicating that two or more messagescontain e.g. WCDMA data at different frequencies (different sub-nodeaddresses may indicate different frequencies). After summing there is amulti-carrier signal. In this concept, it is assumed that the signal hasbeen converted from baseband to RF already in the baseband processingunits. As mentioned above the type may also be different. It may bepossible to have a multi-carrier signal where WCDMA would be at carrierfrequency f1 and CDMA at carrier frequency f2 and GSM/EDGE at carrierfrequency f3.

Where the packets have been upconverted to different frequencies, forexample intermediate frequencies or radio frequencies, it is possible tocombine GSM packets together. In this case, the different frequencies ofthe different messages allow the different messages to be distinguished.The upconversion to intermediate frequencies can take place in thebaseband part of the base station.

For those embodiments where the header is not identical, the header maybe at least partially summed. Alternatively or additionally, theadditional information may be provided in an extended header and/or inthe payload field. More preferably a new header would be generated fromthe input headers from predefined rules.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which shows a block diagram ofembodiments of the present invention. The elements shown in FIG. 4 maybe provided in a common node. Alternatively, the elements shown in FIG.4 may be provided in different nodes.

The packet data is received via input 30 and is input to a multiplexer32. In FIG. 4, three multiplexers and their data input are shown. Itshould be appreciated that in alternative embodiments of the presentinvention, more or less than three multiplexers will be provided,typically more. The data which is input to the multiplexer 32 is inputbyte by byte with each byte being input in serial.

Reference is made to FIG. 5 which shows the multiplexer 32 of FIG. 4 inmore detail. The input data is input to an address extractor 34. Theaddress extractor 34 is arranged to extract the address from the headerof the received data. The extracted address is output to the part of themultiplexer which provides the multiplexing function 36. The extractedaddress is used by the multiplexing function 36 as an address for alookup table or multiplexing table 38. The output of the lookup tableprovides the identity of the output ports to which the data should bedirected, based on the address. The output provided by the multiplexingfunction 36 identifies the port or ports to which the data is to beoutput. The address extracting unit 34 is arranged to output the packet.It should be appreciated that the packet is unchanged as it passesthrough the multiplexer 32.

It should be appreciated that the same lookup table 38 may be used byall of the multiplexers 32. Alternatively, copies of the same lookuptable may be used by the multiplexers 32. It should also be appreciatedthat the look up table may be modified or updated as required to takeinto account the current circumstances. The multiplexing table 38 thusprovides routing information.

It should be appreciated that when the data arrives in the multiplexer32, it is buffered until the address is extracted. The address extractorunit 34 may have that buffering capacity. Alternatively, a separatebuffer may be provided. The buffered data is then output as soon as theport information is available.

Depending on the port, the packet is directed to one or a number ofsumming units 44. The number of summing units 44 may be the same ordifferent from the number of output ports. Output port here indicatesfor example a connection to another node. In the embodiment illustratedin FIG. 4, three summing units 44 are provided. It should be appreciatedthat in preferred embodiments of the present invention, the number ofsumming units 44 is equal to the number of output ports.

The summing units 44 will now be described in more detail with referenceto FIG. 6.

Reference is made to FIG. 6 which shows one of the summing units 44 ofFIG. 4 in more detail. The summing unit 44 has a header checking unit46. The header checking unit 46 is arranged to check the header forerrors. To this end, the header checking unit 46 is arranged to receivethe data packet and to extract the header. Alternatively, since theheader is the first part of the packet, the header checking unit 46 maybe arranged to receive the first N bits of a packet, the header beingcontained in those N bits. In preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, the packet is disassembled with the header going to theheader checking unit 46. The payload is sent to summing circuitry of thesumming unit 44 at the same time as the header is sent to the headerchecking unit. The data is buffered in the summing part, by for exampleflip flops, or in any other suitable location until the header checkingunit has completed its checks. The summing part will be described inmore detail hereinafter.

The header checking unit 46 is arranged to verify the header fields. Inparticular, the header checking unit is also arranged to carry out thecomparison of the headers of the packets input to the summer. A firstoutput is provided if there is no error, that is all of the headers arethe same. If there is a mismatch in the address field, then a firsterror is output. If there is a mismatch in the type field between theheaders of the different packets, then a second error is output,likewise if there is a mismatch in the time stamps fields a third erroris output.

The header checking unit 46 is also arranged to provide a fourth andfifth error message respectively if there is overflow in the summing orunderflow in the summing. The output of the summing stage may provide a19 bit summing result. In the example described later, full precision 16adding is used. This means that the 16 least significant bits are takenfrom the summing result. According to the sign bit, that is the mostsignificant bit the remaining bits are checked. From this it is possibleto determine if there is an overflow or an underflow, depending on thesign bit. For this purpose, there is an output 65 from the adder stageto the header checking unit. An illustrative example of this follows: A5 bit vector 00001 is summed with 01000. This gives the result 01001.This need to be in a 3 bit output. Checking the most significant bittells us that the number is a positive number. Checking the fourth bit,which is 1, tells us that there is an overflow. If the fourth bit hadbeen 0, then it would have been determined that there is no overflow.This similarly applies to negative numbers and underflows.

A sixth error is also provided if the time stamp is not incremented.Additionally, if the time stamp, for example for a GSM type message, isnot incremented from a previous message's time stamp, an error is alsoindicated.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present invention,the time stamp field must be incremented for each packet otherwise anerror is indicated.

Finally, a seventh error is provided if the headers of the packetsindicate that the packets should be going to different ports. In thismode, the packets are not summed together but are individually output.This is the so-called bypass node. In the bypass mode, only one inputport can be multiplexed to the same output port at the same time. If twomore input ports try to multiplex to the same output port, where thereis no summing, an error is indicated and the empty message is sentforward.

The header checking unit 46 is provided with a header enable signal.Finally, the header checking unit 46 provides an output 48. This is thecommon header which is to be added to the summed data.

The packets which are to be summed, and in particular the payloads areinput to respective AND gates 50 along with an enable signal 52. If theenable signal is high, then the AND gate 50 will pass the payload datatherethrough. In preferred embodiments of the present invention, an ANDgate 50 is used for each payload which is to be summed. Each AND gate 50is connected to the input of two flip-flops 54. The function of the pairof flip-flops 54 connected to the output of each AND gate 50 is toconvert the data from an 8 bit form to a 16 bit form.

The output of the two flip-flops, providing the 16 bit data is input toa summer stage 56. The summer stage 56 consists of a number of adderstages in a tree formation. This is well known in the art. The number ofadder stages will depend on the number of payloads to be added together.Each stage consists of a number of adders 58. The adders in the firststage are arranged each to receive two inputs, one input being from onepair of flip-flops 54 associated with one AND gate 50 and the otherinput being the output from another pair of flip-flops 54 associatedwith a second AND gate 50.

The adders of the first stage 58 are arranged to provide an output to anadder 60 of a second stage. Each adder of the second stage is arrangedto receive the output of two adders from the first stage. Likewise, eachof the two adders 62 of the third stage are arranged to receive theoutput of two adders of the second stage. The fourth stage has a singleadder 64 which is arranged to receive the output of the two adders 62defining the third stage 64. This provides output 65 to the headerchecker unit 46 discussed previously. The summed payload is also outputto a multiplexer 66 which is also arranged to receive the common headeroutput via output 48 from the header checking unit 46. To reassemble thepackets, the header is first output followed by the combined datapacket. The multiplexer 66 is controlled by a control signal from thesumming control unit 68 which provides a selection signal to themultiplexer 66 and also provides enable signals to the variousflip-flops. The summing control unit has inputs for downlink DL (BB toRF) and uplink UL timing parameters.

The output of the multiplexer 66 is input to a flip-flop 70 whichcontrols the output of the combined packet by the output. The summingcontrol unit 68 again provides the enable signal for the flip-flop 70.

It should be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention havethe following advantages. When integrating the summing functionalitywith the bus multiplexer or router, latency through the multiplexer canbe decreased. Thus, data transfer over the bus has longer latency, if ineach bus node, data must be taken away from the bus for summing afterwhich it is retransmitted to the bus. In contrast, in embodiments of thepresent invention, it is not necessary to receive the entire packet inthe multiplexer before extracting the relevant port information. Thiscan be done by taking the relevant address information from the packetas soon as it is received. Whilst the header is being processed, theremainder of the packet can be received and then directed in accordancewith the address looked up in the lookup table.

The summing of the packets can take place well before the packets reachthe modulator. Alternatively, the data can be transmitted without anysumming from the base band processing to the radio frequency end of thebase station. Summing would then be performed in the modulator beforetransmitting the data to analogue RF parts.

It should be appreciated that by having an integrated multiplexer andsummer, the latency can be reduced. It is possible in embodiments of thepresent invention that the node provide summing and routing functionssubstantially simultaneously. In other words the header can be outputwhile the data is summed. Additionally or alternatively, the header canbe processed as soon as it is received without necessarily having towait for the whole packet to be received. Advantages may be achieved byembodiments of the invention which integrate the functions of themultiplexers and the summers.

The summing of the data may be based on external rules. The rules may beprovided by base transceiver station control entity which is in chargeof the control of the whole base transceiver station BTS. The rulesdepend on the inherent properties of air interface standards that aresupported by the BTS. Also technologies and signal processing operationsutilized by the BTS have an impact on the summing rules. For example,WCDMA and CDMA packets are summed together because that is beneficiallybased on the code division property of these air interface standards.GSM/EDGE messages are not summed if modulation and upconversion is doneat RF processing units. Note that time and frequency separates GSM/EDGEcalls from each other. Summing of GSM/EDGE may be done if modulation andupconversion to intermediate frequency is done already at basebandprocessing units. Thus, frequency (and time) separation is alreadygenerated by the baseband processing units.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described in the contextof packets of data. However, it should be appreciated that it ispossible to achieve similar results where the data is in the form of asequence of bit where the sequence of bits can be received from separatesources, summed together and transmitted to the next node. It should beappreciated that in this case, there will be some control informationwhich will indicate the address or the like which will need to beconsidered when summing together bits from two or more sources, forexample data synchronization marks/frame indicators.

The indices of input ports (constant stream of data seen at each portmay contain multiplexed transmissions of several separate streams) maybe taken into account by the summing means.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described in the contextof packets which are transmitted from the base band nodes or processingunits to the radio frequency nodes. It should be appreciated that insome embodiments of the present invention, the packets may be from theradio frequency to the base band.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described particularly inthe context of a base transceiver station. It should be appreciated thatembodiments of the present invention can be used in any other suitablenode in a telecommunications system. For example, embodiments of thepresent invention can be used in any of the other elements of thenetwork, including the mobile station, the mobile services switchingcentre of the like.

It should be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention mayhave wider application than in a wireless telecommunications network andindeed may be used in any suitable communications network.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described in the contextof a CDMA system. It should be appreciated that embodiments of thepresent invention may be used with systems other than CDMA. Inparticular, embodiments of the present invention can be used to addtogether data from different packets or bit streams. The data will haveto be of the type where it is possible to be separated again by thereceiver of the data. In case of the multicarrier example, it is thefrequency that separates the signals.

1. An apparatus, comprising: one or more inputs configured to receive aplurality of data packets, said data packets comprising payload data andaddress information; one or more summing units configured toarithmetically sum at least a portion of original payload data of atleast two of said data packets in dependence on a comparison of theaddress information of said at least two data packets to generate newpayload data, said new payload data taking the place of said originalpayload data of said at least two of said data packets; and a pluralityof outputs configured to output said new payload data in place oforiginal payload data used in its generation, said summing units beingconfigured to route said new payload data to one or more of saidplurality of outputs.
 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, whereinsaid data packets comprise a header, said header comprising said addressinformation.
 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said headercomprises at least one of the following fields: information identifyinga type of data in the payload, and a time stamp.
 4. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the one or more summing units are configuredto sum together payload data of packets with the same header.
 5. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the one or more summing unitsare configured to sum together payload data of packets with differentheaders.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said summing ofdata is based on external rules.
 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5,wherein said one or more summing units are configured to sum payloaddata of packets with different addresses.
 8. The apparatus as claimed inclaim 5, wherein said one or more summing units are configured to sumpayload data of packets with different types of data.
 9. The apparatusas claimed in claim 5, wherein said one or more summing units areconfigured to sum payload data of packets with different time stamps.10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein at least one of saidplurality of outputs is configured to output a packet comprising thesummed data and said same header.
 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim1, comprising one or more address extracting units are configured toextract the address information from said data.
 12. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 11, wherein said one or more address extracting unitsconfigured to start extracting the address information before all of apacket is received.
 13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 2, whereinsaid payload data is summed at the same time or after the header hasbeen output by at least one of said plurality of outputs.
 14. Theapparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more inputscomprises a plurality of inputs and said one or more summing units areconfigured to take into account identities of the plurality of inputswhen summing the data.
 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe apparatus is configured to identify one or more of said plurality ofoutputs of said apparatus.
 16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15,wherein said identifying one or more of said plurality of outputs ofsaid apparatus is provided by a look up table.
 17. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, wherein separate summing units are provided for eachoutput.
 18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the data to besummed is directed to a summing unit associated with the identifiedoutput.
 19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one ormore summing units are provided with a plurality of adder stages. 20.The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said data comprise spreadspectrum data.
 21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the datawhich is summed together is such that different data of the summed datacan be distinguished from each other.
 22. A base station comprising oneor more apparatuses, each of said apparatuses comprising: one or moreinputs configured to receive a plurality of data packets, said datapackets comprising payload data and address information; one or moresumming units configured to arithmetically sum at least a portion oforiginal payload data of at least two of said data packets in dependenceon a comparison of the address information of said at least two datapackets to generate new payload data, said new payload data taking theplace of said original payload data of said at least two of said datapackets; and a plurality of outputs configured to output said newpayload data in place original payload data used in its generation, saidsumming units being configured to route said new payload data to one ormore of said plurality of outputs.
 23. The base station as claimed inclaim 22, wherein a plurality of said apparatus is provided in said basestation.
 24. The base station as claimed in claim 23, wherein saidplurality of said apparatus comprises nodes in a packet based basebandradio frequency bus.
 25. The base station as claimed in claim 22,wherein said summed data is directed to a predetermined one or more beamor antenna of said base station.
 26. The base station as claimed inclaim 22, wherein said data to be transmitted by said base station on acarrier output is summed together.
 27. The apparatus as claimed in claim1, wherein at least some data is summed as at least some data is output.28. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said apparatus isconfigured to process and route data simultaneously.
 29. A method,comprising: receiving a plurality of data packets, said data packetscomprising payload data and address information; comparing the addressinformation of at least two of said data packets; arithmetically summingat least a portion of original payload data of said at least two of datapackets in dependence on the result of the comparison to generate newpayload data, said new payload data taking the place of said originalpayload data of said at least two of said data packets; and routing saidnew payload data in place of original payload data used in itsgeneration to at least one of a plurality of outputs.
 30. The method asclaimed in claim 29, wherein payload data of data packets having thesame address information are summed together.
 31. The method as claimedin claim 29, wherein at least portions of the summing and routing stepstake place at the same time.
 32. An apparatus, comprising: input meansfor receiving a plurality of data packets, said data packets comprisingpayload data and address information; summing means for arithmeticallysumming at least a portion of original payload data of at least two ofsaid data packets in dependence on a comparison of the addressinformation of said at least two data packets to generate new payloaddata, said new payload data taking the place of said original payloaddata of said at least two of said data packets; and a plurality ofoutput means for outputting said new payload data in place originalpayload data used in its generation, said summing means routing said newpayload data to one or more of said plurality of output means.
 33. Abase station comprising one or more apparatuses, each of saidapparatuses comprising: input means for receiving a plurality of datapackets, said data packets comprising payload data and addressinformation; summing means for arithmetically summing at least a portionof original payload data of at least two of said data packets independence on a comparison of the address information of said at leasttwo data packets to generate new payload data, said new payload datataking the place of said original payload data of said at least two ofsaid data packets; and a plurality of output means for outputting saidnew payload data in place of original payload data used in itsgeneration, said summing means routing said new payload data to one ormore of said plurality of output means.